Starters31min 19pts (8-14 1-3 2-2) 3reb 4ast 4stl 0blk 2ToGay ( B ) -- with the Mavs constantly double teaming Cuz, we started drawing up first half plays for Rudy, and he did a solid job of converting. Never dominant, but finished with authority inside, and was also one of our guys who was constantly playing handsy defense against a Mavs team just laying the ball out there, and notched 4 steals.

Featured Grade33min 24pts (10-16 2-2 2-3) 14reb 7ast 0stl 3blk 2TOCousins ( A ) -- Demarcus was presented with an opportunity to feast tonight and certainly got his fill with no one on the Mavs able to stop him. Had an inauspicious start to the game...

Starters35min 22pts (7-18 2-6 6-6) 9reb 4ast 3stl 0blk 3ToGay ( C+ ) -- up, down, and all around. Started off the game with excellent hustle energy, but quickly established he could not hit a shot and the Knicks length bothered him. Came out in the 3rd firing and a major reason why we got back into it, but decionmaking was sloppy all night, and nearly random play down the stretch did not help.

43min 36pts (9-30 4-10 14-16) 12reb 4ast 1stl 3blk 2ToCousins ( B- ) -- I mean, what to do with this stat line? Team really let him down here. Came out of the gate playing GREAT inspired ball, scoring and smothering Porzingis on D. but as the rest of the team did nothing, Cuz got ganged up on, got desperate and...

It continues to feel like we are better than a 7-12 team. We have toughness, resilience. We scrape and claw...and then never quite have enough. And the gods haven't been smiling. Tonight we are in a 4th quarter dogfight, Joerger almost waits too long to put back in Cuz for the final 7 minutes, then he does and we will win or lose on whether he carries us home (given Rudy completely letting us down again)....and in under a minute he's out of the game after his own man (Ty) cuts open his eye and sends him tot he lockerroom. While he's out the lead balloons, threatens to get out of control, but he returns just in time to lead us right back into the dogfight, and hits a three to make it a one possession game again in the final minute. At which point we again come up short. We just need some extra spark, one extra player with the offensive talent to give us a critical boost.

I wanted to look at our +/- numbers, how the various starting lineups had done, and then how the team had done at various points in the game. Below you can find statistical explanations for several nettlesome trends and decisions the Kings keep coming back to, but its largely the diary of a middling team, not a terrible one.

PART I -- On/Off
These numbers stress not only the overwhelming importance of Cousins/Gay (although Gay's offensive +/- has plummeted as he has come down to Earth the last two weeks), but also show how Tolliver, Willie, and Ben have fallen out the back of the rotation. You can also see the "Koufos" effect, where his presence makes a massive difference for us defensively (and is likely why Boogie, who has been a big + guy defensively the last few years, is now having his impact offensively -- Koufos did the same thing to Marc Gasol in Memphis), but he's by far the worst main rotation player on the team offensively. BTW, we are again actually...

The Kings would probably prefer to skip the first six minutes of every game. They've trailed after the first six minutes in 12 of their 17 games and they're the league's worst team in those six minutes, getting outscored by 24 points per 100 possessions (and allowing 123). Dave Joerger has used four different starting lineups in their last five games, but maybe DeMarcus Cousins is just slow to get going (at least defensively). He's a minus-56 in first quarters and a plus-72 otherwise. Monday's opponent (Washington) has been the league's best team in the first six minutes of the first....